North needs better underwater search equipment, says widow
The widow of a man whose body was missing for five years in N.W.T.’s Giauque Lake says the North needs better equipment to conduct underwater searches.
The body of man believed to be Jaxon Smith was found last week in the lake with the help of a remote-operated underwater vehicle.
In 2007, Jaxon and Kelsey Smith were preparing for their first Christmas as husband and wife.
“Jaxon had called me on Nov. 30, and he was saying that they were driving on the lake already and I was like, why? It's too early.... it's not thick enough,” said Kelsey Smith.
The next day, the vehicle Jaxon, 27, and two other off-duty mine workers were in broke through the ice. The other two men got out, but Jaxon Smith — who was in the backseat — never surfaced. It happened near the old Discovery mine site, north of Yellowknife.
Divers pulled up the Land Cruiser that he was travelling in, but they did not find his body inside. As well, an underwater camera showed no sign of Smith's body in the area. Divers could only be in the water for four minutes at a time due to the cold temperatures.
The search was called off after just over a week. Another search the following summer also came up empty-handed. Kelsey Smith said she was "devastated" when the second search was called off.
"It was like losing Jaxon all over again," she said.
This year, she commissioned the help of American couple Gene and Sandra Ralston, who have a side-scan sonar unit specialized for use in finding human remains, and a remote-operated underwater vehicle.
They found the body believed to be Jaxon's in just 20 minutes.
“My mood lifted,” said Kelsey Smith. “I was happy, I was excited. Jaxon is going to come home.”
The Ralstons also helped in the search for Tulita teen Nicole Horassi earlier this month, whose body was found in the Mackenzie River three weeks after she went missing.
The retired couple have helped in many underwater searches across North America and charge only for their travel costs. Tyhee mine, where Jaxon worked, helped pay the bill.
“I wish that the N.W.T., well pretty much all three territories, would get the type of equipment that Gene and Sandra have so that it doesn't have to happen to any other families — so that they don't have to go through what I've gone through for the past four and a half years,” Smith said.
Kelsey Smith is still waiting for autopsy test results to confirm the body found last week is that of her husband, but said if that’s the case, she'll finally have some closure.
